


To Protect What Is Hers

by Anonymous



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, F/M, Forced Marriage, Multi, Protectiveness, krakoa (X-men) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 09:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30036576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Bei of the Blood Moon is used to Arrako. Now, on Krakoa, she has to learn how to protect her husband, when his ways are so different from what she knows, and so much of this new world is strange to her.
Relationships: Bei the Blood Moon/Douglas Ramsey, Bei the Blood Moon/Douglas Ramsey/Warlock, Douglas Ramsey/Warlock (New Mutants)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4
Collections: X-Men Rare Pairs 2021





	To Protect What Is Hers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InsertSthMeaningful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [InsertSthMeaningful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertSthMeaningful/pseuds/InsertSthMeaningful) in the [xmenrarepairs21](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/xmenrarepairs21) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> (actually a request for Bei the Blood Moon/Douglas Ramsey/Warlock, but the ship tag doesn't seem to exist yet) 
> 
> In which Warlock soon gets accustomed to his SelfSoulFriend (i.e. boyfriend) having a large wife, Doug learns to deal with double the snuggles he's only gotten from Warlock so far, and Bei settles into her new life on Krakoa - which involves a lot of saving Doug from bagel bushes and sleeping in under a blanket made from Warlock.

Krakoa was soft. Life here was easy, and that was what first struck Bei when she arrived to her new home. Food was plentiful, and there was no need to fear constant attack. They had even conquered death. It was a beautiful land, and it set her skin crawling, because this wasn't how things should be.

Bei had always lived for the fight. She had known since birth she was a warrior. And now she wasn't sure how to do that.

It had all changed with Saturnyne's little game. The woman who held power over both of their worlds, picking out a pretty little mutant for Bei to marry and make more mutants with. And she chose the one mutant who couldn't hear her. The one mutant that couldn't understand.

Cypher was beautiful. Fragile. A strategist, and able to communicate, but not fit for the field of battle. In Arrako, he would have been one of those who lived away from the fighting, in a tower. In Arrako, the two of them might have married - it was common, for warriors and strategists to marry, so the warrior could keep them safe.

In Krakoa, it didn't feel like there was any need for warriors.

He had been nervous, at first, showing her around the rooms he lived in, apologising for it when to her it was luxury. He had kept touching the handle of his sword as he spoke, and she remembered the fight, remembered her fear at each of that witch's contests that the next one might be the one that killed her beloved. He was so fragile. 

But he had survived. And taken her to his home. She left Seducer, her own blade, at the doorway when he asked, but he kept clutching his sword like an infant holding a training blade, finding a reassurance in it.

That night, she had taken him to bed, and he had been hesitant as she removed her armour. At first, she had thought the very dynamics of the act were unknown to him - fragile as he was, it would be understandable to keep him hidden from any potential violence, and fights among warriors over their husbands and wives were common. But when she realised it wasn't ignorance but fear that made him hesitate, she changed her tactics. Cypher was precious, and she didn't wish to harm him. Instead, she let him curl up against her, his sword on the floor beside her, and stroked his hair, trying to show him she wasn't angry, that she would never hurt him.

He fell asleep, his head resting on the curve of her chest. She let him sleep, keeping silent watch, straining her ears for any sign of ambush as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

No attack came that night, and the first light of dawn was beginning to show through the window when she felt something heavy and cold settle on her ankle. Seducer was still at the door. She felt the cold creeping up the bed, already calculating how to shield her husband. And then she moved - pushing him off the bed and into the darkness beneath it (which she had checked for monsters earlier), and swinging her hand down to grab his sword.

Her fingers closed on nothing.

In the half-light, she could make out a large shape looming above them, reaching out. She bared her teeth, prepared to fight - to the death if necessary. She would keep her beautiful husband safe. She lunged forwards, gathering breath to scream.

"Bei!" Cypher pleaded. "Leave him." 

She paused, glancing to the side, to see her husband had half crawled out from beneath the bed where she had stowed him. His eyes were wide with fear, the way they had been when she had nearly killed that boy. She hated the fact he kept stopping her from killing, kept demanding that she acted peacefully in a way that was unnatural to her. But she would do it, for him. Snarling a little, she moved away.

"Thank you." Her husband answered, clambering shakily to his feet. His hair was sticking in all directions, and she knew that there would be bruises on his skin from where she had moved him out of the way. She felt sorrow at that, and wished he would permit her to kiss the injuries better. She sniffed the air, scenting for blood. 

Her husband reached out, gathering the shape into his arms, and clinging to them. It took a moment for her to notice - it had the same pattern as his missing sword, a mixture of black and gold.

"SelfSoulFriend?" The shape asked. It's voice sounded strange. "What happened?"

Cypher leaned in and clung tighter still, sobbing. She wanted to reach out and tear this creature limb from limb for making her husband cry. But she held back, because he had asked her to. 

"I was so scared she'd... I thought Saturnyne had... I missed you, Warlock." Cypher whispered, running his fingers along the golden patterns so carefully. "But you're... this is Bei, the Blood Moon. She's... she's my wife. It... Professor Xavier says our union will be good for the relationship with Arrako."

The not-sword frowned, glancing at her. "StrangerBei is dangerous."

"She's a warrior." Cypher answered, and Bei was tempted to preen, knowing that the potential threat knew it was outclassed. "But she's good to me. To us."

"Self missed SelfSoulFriend." The shape said, surging forwards, wrapping around Cypher for a moment, and Bei was tempted to march forwards and rip it from him. Cypher was hers. But he looked so happy, she couldn't begrudge him that.

"I know. I missed you too. But we're here now." Cypher told it, clambering onto the bed. "You can still be a blanket if you want, Warlock. I'm sure Bei won't mind."

Bei wanted to rip it apart. She smiled, the expression foreign on her lips, because she knew that was how these Krakoans reacted. She wanted to put Cypher at ease.

"Thank you." Her husband said, and he sounded so grateful that she stopped having so many regrets. He lay down, and patted the expanse of bed beside him. She curled back up beside him, and felt the metal layer of Warlock shifting to cover them both.

She felt a little more secure at that. This "Warlock" apparently knew how to protect Cypher, and she could see the advantages to that. Cypher had a tendency to run head first into danger, even though he was a strategist, even though he should have been kept back from battle. Perhaps Warlock was an ally, not an enemy.

It wasn't unknown for two warriors to share a more fragile mate. It wasn't always a relationship that worked out, but it was insurance in a way - if one were to fall in battle, they knew for certain that their husband or wife would still be protected.

If there was already a warrior that had Cypher's heart, it explained some of his reluctance, his strangeness since the marriage. She had given him all he had asked for - sparing both the baby and the boy, returning to battle alongside his friends - but if his heart belonged to another, she had little chance of changing that. And yet. He had invited her into his home and bed. 

The weight of Warlock over her was strange, but she focused on the security that it indicated. It meant that no one would be able to sneak up on Cypher. She focused on Warlock, using her telepathy to speak to him. _I can take watch the rest of the night._

"Self will watch over SelfSoulFriend." There was a pause, and then Warlock's tendrils brushed her arm. "Self will also watch over SelfSoulFriend's Wife."

 _Thank you._ She answered him. It was strange, the certainty with which he said it. But she suspected he meant it. On Arrako, she would have bristled at any idea that she was unable to defend a mate single-handedly. But on Krakoa, she knew even the food might make her beautiful husband sick, and at the same time she knew little of the intricate workings of their court. No. 

This Warlock would be a worthy ally. If he cared for Cypher, then she would be glad to work with him and protect their mate. Satisfied by this new arrangement, she fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly around her beloved, guarding him in the knowledge that she did not have to do so alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Given I had to create both pairing and character tags for this, I'm not sure anyone will find it. If you have found it and read it, please do comment!


End file.
